North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards its eastern waters on Friday, the South Korean military said, one day after Pyongyang decried American sanctions imposed on its banking officials accused of laundering money for the country’s nuclear weapons programme.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they tracked a missile that flew cross-country after it was launched from an inland area in the western county of Taekwan, near the border with China.
The suspected short-range ballistic missile travelled a distance of about 700km (435 miles).
South Korean and US surveillance systems detected preparations for the launch, and tracked the projectile in flight, the military said.
Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi said the missile had probably landed in the sea outside the country’s exclusive economic zone, and hadn’t caused any damage.
South Korea and Japan did not provide further details, though Seoul said its military was analysing the details of the launch.
This was North Korea’s second missile launch in less than three weeks. The first took place ahead of US president Donald Trump’s visit to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
It was also the country’s 10th missile test this year. One of the tests, in September, involved a new solid-fuel rocket engine for intercontinental ballistic missiles, which the North’s leader Kim Jong Un described as a “significant change” in the country’s nuclear force projection.
The latest test came after the North warned the US of unspecified countermeasures following Washington’s sanctioning of the bankers, saying that such “threat and blackmail” would go against the prospect of bilateral dialogue.
The US recently sanctioned eight people and two entities for allegedly laundering money from cyber crime and IT worker fraud schemes to pay for the North Korean nuclear programme.
“By doing so, the US administration showed to the full its stand that it would be hostile towards the DPRK to the last,” said Kim Un Chol, vice-minister for US affairs at the foreign ministry, using the country’s official name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Hopes rose that Mr Trump would hold a summit with Mr Kim after the US president arrived in the region last month. South Korea’s intelligence agency said North Korea appeared to be preparing for a potential meeting. Mr Trump repeated his willingness to sit down with Mr Kim, but no meeting took place. Later Mr Trump said he was willing to return to the region to meet Mr Kim.
North Korea, which usually confirms the success of its missile tests, is yet to report the test launch.
